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FDA, Big Pharma team up on drug research center

In all the hoopla over the new FDA funding-and-reform legislation last month, a key provision was eclipsed--the creation of a new research center paid for by drug makers. The Reagan-Udall Foundation is designed to streamline and improve drug development. But as the Associated Press notes, a research collaboration yoking pharma with the FDA creates an entirely new form of regulator-regulatee relationship--one that might get drugs to market more quickly and more cheaply, but even less safely.

The FDA is fast-tracking nominations to the new center's board, with members slated to be named by October 27. Four of the fourteen members are expected to be pharma executives.

- check out the FDA release seeking nominations for the board
- read the AP'stake on the foundation